Elders Back Security Pact That Karzai Won’t Sign
By ROD NORDLAND, NYT
KABUL, Afghanistan — An angry President Hamid Karzai, at times openly hostile to his American allies, on Sunday rejected the final recommendation of a four-day Afghan grand assembly that he should promptly sign a security agreement with the United States.
Even though he had convened the assembly, or loya jirga, to ratify his decision to sign the agreement, Mr. Karzai told the assembled elders that he would do so only after further negotiations.
He also demanded that American forces cease raids on Afghan homes immediately, saying that he would nullify any bilateral security agreement if there was even one more such raid.
In practical terms, that would mean an end to the last remaining combat missions American troops are regularly carrying out: raids by elite units aimed at capturing high-profile insurgents.
(More here.)
KABUL, Afghanistan — An angry President Hamid Karzai, at times openly hostile to his American allies, on Sunday rejected the final recommendation of a four-day Afghan grand assembly that he should promptly sign a security agreement with the United States.
Even though he had convened the assembly, or loya jirga, to ratify his decision to sign the agreement, Mr. Karzai told the assembled elders that he would do so only after further negotiations.
He also demanded that American forces cease raids on Afghan homes immediately, saying that he would nullify any bilateral security agreement if there was even one more such raid.
In practical terms, that would mean an end to the last remaining combat missions American troops are regularly carrying out: raids by elite units aimed at capturing high-profile insurgents.
(More here.)
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